


Comfort

by betheflame



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29085123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: Tony's had a terrible day, and Bucky's only focus is making it better.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Pepper Potts, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark
Comments: 10
Kudos: 113
Collections: Winteriron Winter Stockings 2020





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ralsbecket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralsbecket/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [ralsbecket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralsbecket/pseuds/ralsbecket) in the [winteriron_winter_stockings_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/winteriron_winter_stockings_2020) collection. 



> None of the prompts grabbed me, but 'playing with hair' and 'non-traditional a/b/o' from the likes list did, so this is what came out!

“Baby,” Bucky said quietly. “Are you okay?”

Tony shifted and snuggled his head deeper into his omega’s lap. He knew he was the alpha, that he was supposed to be in control all the time, that he was supposed to -

“Honey,” Bucky said quietly again. “It’s okay to not be okay.”

Bucky began carding his hands through Tony’s hair, scratching slightly. Tony loved Bucky’s hands; well, in truth, he loved everything about Bucky except for his complete inability to hang his towels up after he used them. The man did not seem to be concerned with mold, and it baffled Tony. But the scratch of Bucky’s fingernails on his scalp always seemed to center him.

Bucky scenting the room didn’t hurt either.

“It was a complete failure,” Tony said softly. “Nothing about the launch worked, and we had to fire two hundred people and it’s my fault.”

“The product didn’t catch the market,” Bucky corrected, “and you had to fire two hundred people because the world simply blows sometimes.”

Tony was quiet as Bucky continued to play with his hair. “If Pep was here, she’d said the truth was in between those two statements.”

Bucky laughed. Like it always did, the noise settled Tony further. “And my sister’s been the smartest one of us since the beginning, so I guess we listen to her.”

The four year age gap between the Barnes siblings, combined with Tony skipping most of elementary school, meant that he and Pepper had been closer during all their growing up years. He knew of Bucky, of course, and their families went on vacation together, and the combined Stark-Barnes-Rogers-Wilson clans of families meant that he had just as many memories of Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Nat as he did of Pepper. But he hadn’t thought much of it. He presented as an alpha when he was 12, as did Pepper, which put to rest all the chatter among the families that they’d mate.

Bucky had always had swagger - it took a special child to pull off the nickname ‘Bucky’ after all - and they’d all assumed he’d present as an alpha, or at least a beta. When omega pheromones began pouring out of him on his 12th birthday, Bucky took it in his typical stride. His freshman year of high school, he went out for the football team, like he’d always planned on doing. When he was told he couldn’t play because he was an omega, he worked with Tony’s dad to sue the school system.

When the fourth national media outlet picked up the story, their school district suddenly felt comfortable with an omega on the team.

Bucky’s senior year of high school was also Tony’s first year of graduate school. He came home to cheer on his new business partner’s younger brother, and…

The rest was history.

They’d courted throughout Bucky’s college years, and Bucky was as intrinsic in building SB Innovations as Tony and Pepper themselves. Bucky’s calming omega scents came in handy more times than the two alphas would have liked to admit, in fact, over the many late nights of trying to change the world. Their bonding ceremony took place three days after SBI launched their first major product, and their wedding was the year after that.

Now, ten years later, SBI was a publicly traded company with more employees than Tony could keep track of, but he felt responsible for every single one. He was the head of R&D, his name was on the building, his -

“Baby,” Bucky said softly one more time, breaking Tony’s reverie. He pulled Tony up from where he was laying, and forced him to straddle Bucky’s lap. “I know your brain, and I know how you’re beating yourself up here. I also know, because I’ve met you and we’ve been here before, that nothing I say in the next few hours is going to make you feel any better, no matter how right I am. You and Pep will figure this out, like you always do, and I know you compensated those people as best you could.”

“Buck -”

“Pep talks to me too,” Bucky said firmly. “I know what happened. The market shifted, and none of you are fortune tellers. It happens, and it’s shit. I love that you carry this on your shoulders, but I also hate it so, so very much.”

“I know,” Tony said. He brought his forehead down to rest on Bucky’s. They sat like that for a few minutes, breathing each other in. Tony dipped his head to lave his tongue over Bucky’s bonding bite - tracing the mark he put there so many years ago. Bucky purred, and Tony wondered idly where they were in his heat cycle.

Tony also knew that if he got all alphay tonight and tried to make this about Bucky, Bucky would be pissed. They’d fight over how Tony used his alpha-ness to hide from his emotions, and that’s not what their vows said, and since when were they ‘normal’, and Tony would scream that he was allowed to act like his gender, and Bucky would scream he was allowed not to, and…. They’d been there before.

He didn’t want to go there again.

So he decided to be honest. “I’d like a bath, and you to keep playing with my hair until I fall asleep.”

Tony felt Bucky move, and before he knew it, they were walking to the bedroom. That Bucky could just deadlift Tony -

“Handsome, you want me to chase that scent before or after the bath?” Bucky growled with a slight chuckle.

“Up to you, ‘mega,” Tony replied.

From Bucky’s reaction, that was the right response.


End file.
